#pa pagans

[geezerwench]

 Hi Hanover!! Your friendly town Witch here following a message from the Hanover Borough Police Chief to clarify something about our business practices.

All Tarot services are for entertainment purposes only! We have this posted at 3 locations around the Shoppe as well as on every single one of our online listings that one must read prior to booking your experience via our website. (Y se habla español si necesitas un traducción! 🇵🇷)

While I personally didn’t have “police activity surrounding my place of business on suspicions of witchcraft” on my 2023 bingo card, I suppose no one expects the (Hanover) Inquisition!

Not interested in 15th Century Playing Cards as a mode of entertainment? No worries! We have a trove of treasures from artisans galore in store, and a welcoming community to those who wish to grow together.

The Serpent’s Key Shoppe and Sanctuary is and always will be a safe space for those who seek to walk an alternative spiritual path.  We hope to continue to love our neighbors as ourselves while we welcome in Spooky Season and all of the upcoming winter holidays 🖤🐍🗝️✨

(Ps. Huge shout outs to the Mainstreet Hanover team for being the sweetest during all of this and all of the local business owners who came by today to show their support 🖤🖤 pls go support them and all of the events they work so hard to organize!) 

[the-spirit-of-yore]

Achille blessé au talon par la flèche de Pâris, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, 1850, copie d'un original du Musée des Beaux Arts de Valenciennes, Valenciennes, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

[sp00kyw00dlandwitch]

Hey everyone! I’m looking for new moots & friends in the greater Pittsburgh area! I’m 23 years old, I’ve lived here my whole life and I recently graduated from Penn State main campus. So bc of that & the job market I’m probably gonna be living here for a good bit. I’m bisexual & nonbinary (use she/her & they/them pronouns equally when referring to me). I’m AuDHD (autistic + ADHD) & have depression, anxiety, & PTSD (& possibly CPTSD). I’m also an omnist where I observe multiple deities from hellenism, roman paganism, polish paganism, druidry, irish paganism, and vajrayana buddhism. I also practice witchcraft mainly nature based, pagan deity, & ancestral. My special interests are animals, environmentalism, wildlife conservation, anime, frogs, the ocean, the moon, divination, film, gothic literature, manga, gremlincore, grunge, & squishmallows. I also like to paint terracotta pots for my plants and I just got into crocheting today. :)

[caffeine-and-sunshine]

Our patient is (thankfully) sleeping so we’re spending some time with Dad this morning and meditating on His form of Khonsu pa-Khered, or Khonsu the Child.

Strangely there’s not a whole lot of information about this aspect of Dad. We know He is considered a form of Ra, the Divine Child of Amun and Mut. We know He wears the sidelock of youth. That’s it! So if anyone has any good reads and sources about him, we’d love if you could send them along!

We get Khonsu pa-Khered in a nice smush with Ihy, whom we worked with awhile back after He approached us before we knew Dad. I enjoy the implied association with music in reference to Khonsu.

Image from the Brooklyn Museum

[youdonthavetocallmedarlinnn]

Old charms that have been refurbished 😌

[tet-asw]

Open Litha (and TET's Thirteenth Birthday) Tickets, Sat, Jun 15, 2024 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite

Source: Open Litha (and TET’s Thirteenth Birthday) Tickets, Sat, Jun 15, 2024 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite

https://tet-asw.org/2024/06/05/open-litha-and-tets-thirteenth-birthday-tickets-sat-jun-15-2024-at-100-pm-eventbrite/

[upthewitchypunx]

Pagan Shop gets Police Chief warning about PA "Fortune-Telling" laws - News, Paganism, U.S.

A friend told me about this. This article states the law statute. A law from 1973, not 1873.

[ladyiristheenchantress]

Morals and Ethics

Hello Friends!! to preface: This post is not here to police anyone on what is the 'correct' way to practice. My aim on this post is to be culturally and magically informed, so this isnt going to be a take down of any belief or path line. Instead this post is offered up as a way to not only build your own moral frame work, but get you thinking about where you stand magically and enhance how you practice! Our moral frameworks are all unique, something that would be a faux pas in your practice might be something thats culturally common in others, so lets throw on our thinking caps and get started!

What is building an ethical and moral framework?

Building an ethical background in witchcraft involves establishing a set of principles, values, and guidelines that guide your magical and spiritual practices! In essence It helps ensure that your actions align with your moral compass (Wherever it may lie). This background can help you make informed decisions, cultivate energy, and maintain a respectful and balanced relationship with both you and your magic.

Some religions and paths have their own moral and ethical framework, for example lyma is this idea of "something to be washed away" and is a big deal when practicing within Hellenic Spaces! It would be immoral to approach an altar without washing your hands if they were dirty, but on the flip side some cultures actively encourage dirty hands like people who worship earth within their gardens. Depending on your path you might have a specific framework.

Another aspect is moral frameworks change and that is ok!! Its important we aren't stagnate and its ok to change your mind and feel like you want to change things up. That is totally reasonable and people do it all the time like with politics, religious affiliations, jobs, and more! Ethical and Moral compasses can change just like we do.

How to build an ethical framework

Self-Reflection: Start by exploring your own values, beliefs, and moral code. Reflect on what is important to you, what you stand for, and how these values relate to your magical practices. Also now would be the time to decolonize your beliefs and explore your biases. Its ok to acknowledge your bias, as long as you are working through it. If you dont know what decolonizing your beliefs is I left a helpful video above, just click 'decolonize your beliefs'

Research and Study: Deep dive into different ethical systems and philosophies. Familiarize yourself with various witchcraft traditions, such as New age spirituality, Pagan magical systems, and country/area specific + their associated ethical guidelines. Read books and articles about ethics in witchcraft whether you agree or disagree. During this time you are simply collecting as many perspectives as possible and comparing them to how you feel, don't feel pressured to follow something if you don't feel it applies to you.

Connect with a Mentor or Community: If possible, seek guidance from an experienced witch or spiritual space who can share their ethical insights and offer advice on building your own ethical framework. The best part is, different spaces will produce their own ethical codes of conduct. For example some spaces don't allow love spell discussion for example, which is an ethical guideline.

Create Your Own Code: Based on your self-reflection, research, and guidance, create your own personal code of ethics. This code should reflect your values and guide your magical practices. It might include principles like harm none, respect nature, work for the greater good, or take no shit. Wherever you feel you sit, walk with it. Whatever comes natural to you explore it. Write down what you believe as a symbol, but do so in pencil so you can change it as needed!

Regularly Reevaluate: As you gain experience and your understanding of ethics evolves, revisit and update your ethical code. It's important to grow as your spiritual journey progresses like I mentioned above. You are not a static person, allow yourself to experience your moral compass and how to bends. Allow yourself to be fluid and honest. Not everyone is 'love and light' or 'fuck authority' your allowed to be who you need to be!

Different Types of Ethics in Witchcraft:

Note: This is not every type of ethics, but rather a couple examples of the ethics you may see in your research and which group it belongs too. This area is not meant to endorse or critique an ethical guideline but instead showcase the many that do exist.

The Wiccan Rede: "An it harm none, do what ye will." This is a central ethical guideline in Wicca, emphasizing the avoidance of harm to others as a core principle. Another one is The Threefold Law, this law suggests that the energy you send out, whether positive or negative, will return to you threefold (three times what you sent out). This encourages practitioners to be mindful of their actions.

Green Witch Ethics: Green witches emphasize their connection to nature and the importance of nurturing and protecting the environment. Their ethical background often centers around conservation, sustainability, and working with the Earth's energies respectfully.

Personal Responsibility: Some witches adhere to a more individualistic code of ethics, focusing on personal responsibility and accountability for their actions.

Balancing Left hand and Right hand: For some, ethical considerations involve finding a balance between Right and Left hand magic, and acknowledging the potential consequences of working with both, one, or neither. The right and left hand path are types of magical systems that involve different attitudes towards magic, the right hand emphasizing healing and selflessness, and the left hand emphasizing individuality and shadow aspects.

Respect for Spirits and Deities: Many witches emphasize the importance of showing respect and gratitude to the spirits, deities, and entities they work with, recognizing their agency and autonomy.

Are there any absolutes that I should be aware of?

Absolutes are ethical things that you do need to make sure you are integrating! These are really important things to note when you are learning, because if you do choose to disregard these you could contribute to some really bad concepts that intrinsically cause harm to real people

Respect - Cultural awareness, avoiding appropriation, and looking out for other people can be important. Its important that you fully evaluate a moral system before indulging in it. For example: In the love spell discussion and lot of cultural practioners voices are left out of the discussion, same with baneful discussions. Its important to listen to many groups of people and take stances that dont turn peoples cultures into a monolith, demonize them, or silence them.

Hate groups and cults - Its important that you check where a belief comes from and see if it matches with any hate groups or cult rhetoric. These groups create really flashy and easy to digest claims to try and push an agenda kind of like a salesmen. Their whole job is to try and push you into their group so they can get money, power, fame, and in some cases carry out atrocities. This corresponds with that decolonization conversation from earlier, because it can help keep you and other witchy friends safe!

Nuance - Its important to keep nuance in the conversation. Don't take extremely black and white stances if you aren't knowledgeable on the subject. I think even advanced practioners need to remember to keep nuance in their opinions and keep an open mind when presented with new information or moral ideals. Keep an open dialogue when you are having conversations, and remember to keep asking yourself why you believe the things you do.

Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to building an ethical background in witchcraft. Your ethical code should be a reflection of your personal beliefs and values. It's essential to be true to yourself and to strive for a harmonious practice that aligns with your own spiritual journey! Enjoy the ride :)

Tip Jar

[sophieinwonderland]

More from the doc: Every Tibetan Buddhist is a monk now!

Before getting to the most ridiculous part of this... While a minority of the endogenic community is trying to change the language, this community is largely separate from the tulpamancy community who actually use the language. The push to change language from systems who largely aren't tulpamancers and aren't part of the tulpamancy community would really accomplish little more than sew division between these distinct groups of plurals who should be united.

Thoughtform is a bad term for a mostly psychological practice because it has a long history in spiritual and pagan communities. (Source: My host was in a Wiccan community that made thoughtforms as a teen) It's not something new coined as a replacement. It's using a common term for a different phenomenon in a way that will create confusion.

"Willogenic" is a bad term, IMO, because it implies the headmates are simply "willed" into existence, diminishing the level of practice it takes many tulpamancers to create headmates. The tulpamancy community aren't going to go for that either.

Both of these are bad alternatives.

And I do consider it to be falling for anti-endo propaganda, because while there have been a few Tibetan Buddhists to express discomfort with the term, they've all been ones exposed to syscourse and anti-endo talking points. When the question was posed to Buddhist subreddits, most didn't have an issue with tulpamancers using the term.

There are also no debates about the tulpa being used in horror media or in Genshin Impacts "Hydro Tulpa" boss, showing this topic is exclusively confined to syscourse.

If the main variable for whether a Tibetan Buddhist finds it offensive is whether or not they've been exposed to anti-endo talking points or not before hand, I think that's something that should be taken into consideration.

Remember, you are not immune to propaganda.

Now, to the big thing though...

Do you think all Tibetan Buddhists are monks????????

Is "monk" to you just a word that applies to anyone practicing Buddhism???

Because as far as I know, exactly ZERO of the anti-tulpa people are Buddhist monks.

To be fair, none of the pro-tulpa ones are either. I don't think any actual monks/lamas have commented on this specific issue.

Now, I have pointed to the Dalai Lama, who is the highest monk in Tibetan Buddhism, saying the West and other religions could take Tibetan Buddhist meditations.

While broad, I think this can be extrapolated to apply to the practices tulpamancy drew inspiration from as well, establishing that Tibetan Buddhist meditations are open practices by default unless stated otherwise.

As of yet, I haven't found any evidence of a Lama or other spiritual leaders of Tibetan Buddhism establishing the sprul pa practice as some sort of closed exception.

But this paragraph from the doc highlights for me why I have a hard time taking the anti-tulpa side seriously. If you're going to white knight for a religion, you have GOT to learn the most basic facts about it.

Like, you know, how not everyone who practices the religion is a monk.

[papirouge]

I gave up on being pro life publicly and online. The genocide in the Congo and in Gaza have proved it to me that many western women who run those pro life accounts don’t care for children. Many babies have been lost due to hospital bombings. More children are displaced with no families.

I’ve tried reaching out when they talk about saving children in generic posts because very real babies are losing their lives by IDF terrorism. And I get blocked or I get told “that’s different/ they’re Muslim/they should have left already/I don’t care” over and over and over again. The countless videos are already out that have children begging and crying for their families they lost or the homes that can’t be saved. Some of the worst messages I read criticized and blame the Palestinian men too that they should be protecting the kids, so when they die, it’s actually Palestinians fault. Not the IDF. Meanwhile those “young men” are just teenagers because their parents are dead. The Congolese topic is worst. Many are begging people to stop buying the iPhone 15 to raise awareness over the issues there but I got told by one girl who likes to call herself an anti woke submissive wife that she couldn’t care less about the Congo, she’s going to do whatever her husband wants, if that means ignoring genocide then that’s what she will do too. It’s her god given to have freedom over dead bodies l…

I’m fed up. I’m sick of the hypocrisy. I’m sick of seeing stupid homestead content of how they’re at peace taking care of a home as they purposefully condone genocide. If some hacker group exposed all these “submissive Godly trad wife” accounts as being agents for Israel to distract the west from IDF war crimes, I wouldn’t be surprised the least. Their apathy is demonic

@not-your-average-prolifer is the only pro life blog who passed the vibe check as far as I know. She reblogged posts about the emergency of pregnant women in Palestine and also post about mental health of middle east women. I think she is left leaning (correct me if I'm wrong!) so I'm not surprised to see her with more empathy about whatever's happening to women abroad, unlike Conservatives who are extremely stupid & uneducated when it comes to foreign affairs, if not straight up xenophobic.

I hope for every single Christian I know to never open their mouth about uwu Christianism is from Middle east uwu ever again the next time someone calls Christianism white man's religion or I'll go berserk on them. They better shut up forever. They had no problem to keep their mouth shut witnessing the martyrdom of our brothers - they better keep it that way permanently and stop summoning their struggle once it's convenient to them. YES, they proved they definitely consider Christianism a white man thing, considering our little care they have for our (non white) Christian brothers overseas. They better keep them out of their mouth permanently.

"They're Muslim" it's been well documented that there are Christians in Palestine. But even if they weren't, Christ wants everyone to be saved and accept him as their lord and savior - refusing to extend some basic empathy to people being bombed and killed in their sin is not the way to go. Never forget that Jesus didn't heal or saved only Jews, but also pagans, prostitutes, etc. It's insane how so unemphatic "Christians" have become.

Christian Palestinians are actually some of the oldest Christians - like, where do they those idiots think Jerusalem was?? where did the Pentecost happen? IN MIAMI?? KANSAS?? "They should have left" WHERE?? aren't the ppl pulling out this argument the same crybabies whining about woke culture destroying western civilization? Why didn't they leave the western zone already??? Also aren't they the same against immigration and how men fleeing their country are lazy cowards? so why are they mad at Palestinians sticking to their land?? Damn, Western politicians/diplomacy have the opportunity to do the funniest thing possible and mass import Palestinians in western countries to abide Zionists requirements in Israel 💀

And LOL oh so now Palestinian men are supposed to protect children? what are they supposed to do when the IDF is bombing their house? Take weapons to defend/get back their land and shit? Oh my bad, that makes them terrorists (and let's be clear : what happened on October 7th is unjustifiable but let's not act like the Hamas wasn't called terrorist much earlier than that). It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't. If they do nothing, they're cowards, and if they do, they are terrorists - because in this case, resistance is defiance. Ultimately they just want to deflect from their own lack on empathy and find a rational explanation to that.

Conservative scrotes are the LAST people who should lecture anyone about defending the children when there are acting bullying kids young enough to be their grandchildren calling them wokes, leftists, or whatever. I won't even start about gun violence and how deflective they are about protecting the children only to protect their precious right to carry. Ghouls. They only care abt unborn babies because they are unable to call them out on their bs yet. Once they do, they'll cuss them, call them woke, and all sort of -ists.

On TikTok there was a Christian girl saying how Christians are "too emotional" and how we should keep supporting "God chosen people" (Israel). I already made a post calling out how this "god chosen people " narrative didn't stand now that we were in the NEW COVENANT. But let's follow her train of thought: isn't humankind made from God image? Where do emotions come from? Didn't God himself have emotion? Why? What's the right or wrong place to have emotion? She and all the clown who agreed with her would never be able to reply those questions. We've all seen the videos. I did what I could to avoid them but they're quite unavoidable at this point. What's the correct emotion after seeing 2 kids younger than 10 carrying a third one crying while one of his foot was hanging with only one tendon?? This girl, along with every single Christian unmoved by this disaster has to shut up. Their heart is a stone and they should stop trying to lecture people who still have a heart made of flesh. We're not the same. Christ is PEACE. Not war or violence.

And girl, you really shouldn't even engage with women labelling themselves "anti woke submissive wife" 💀 why would you expect them to care about anything but their idol (husband)? Stay focus on what really matters. Peace and God. We're in the end times and God is slowly but surely unfolding the truth. The masks are slipping. Take note of all the so called who remained silent witnessing satan action, take proper action, and go on.

[gawrkin]

(From a portugese translation of Segurant, Knight of the Dragon)

My own English translation of this segment:

Segurant entered an inn and asked the owner the reason for such extraordinary celebration and joy. “Sir” replied the owner “it is for the coronation of the king of this city” And while they were talking, a large group of knights arrived, so well-armed from head to foot that they lacked nothing. “My God”, Segurant asked the owner, “What is happening and where are all these armed knights going?” “Sir” the owner replied “They are going to a nearby pass, called Pas Bertelais, to protect the region against the pagans who usually come to harm us. Know that half of the population of Carmelide are still pagans and they did so much harm in the region that they killed almost all the children.”

I AM IN SHAMBLES WITH THIS LORE DUMP

[secular-jew]

From my friend Hilde Vertlieb, Philadelphia PA, USA.

Now for a little lesson in actual History

In 622 Ad Mohammed was forced to flee Mecca. He and his band of followers were forced out by the Egyptian Polytheist, who did not recognize Mohammed (who was illiterate), his religion, or his fake prophet status. (By the way, while Egypt did hold Jews as slaves, Egypt did recognize Judaism).

Muhammad landed in Medina. And studied Judaism. At this time he incorporated certain parts of Talmudic Law into his newly invented religion, in the hopes of converting Jews to Islam. But the Jewish tribes of Medina, of which there were three, never accepted him as a prophet, and his Islamic Cult was seen as a religion.

So after 2 year in Medina unable to convert the Jews he declared war on the weakest tribe. Starting with the Murder of Ka'b lbn al-Aschraf.

It was said that in 624 AD, Ka'b In al-Aschraf had gone to Mecca to discover why Mohammed was expelled. And Mohammed had him Beheaded. Al-Ashraf was Chief of the Banu Oaynuqa tribe. Keep in mind Judaism was one of the original Tribal cultures, and Medina was roughly 50% jewish, 25% Christian, and 25% pagan. But he was most threatened by the (then very peaceful) Jews and so began the practice of ethnic cleansing. Muhammad ordered all the Jews killed. But his ally Abdullah In Ubayy intervened. And the Banu Oaynuqa tribe was initially spared and exiled to Edri (now Jordan).

In 625, Muhammad attacked the Banu Nadir tribe. They were date farmers. But again Abdullah In Ubayy intervened. As Muslims were not farmers. They were exiled to Khaybar. But forced to practice their religion in secret. As Mohammed permitted no religion but Islam to exist on the Arabian Peninsula. They were kept as Dhimmis and forced to pay exorbitant taxes ( tribute) to Mohammed and Islam.

Back in Medina, only one of the three Jewish tribes remained, and they were the wine makers. And in 627, after the death of Abdullah Ibn Ubbay, he laid siege to the last tribe. This tribe was absolutely destroyed, driven by Mohammed's blood lust and hatred of Jews. The Children were spared but sold off as slaves. The women were also spared but given to Muslim soldiers as sex slaves. And then Muhammad had all the 700-800 men (basically everyone who exhibited puberty, so mostly 14 and older) decapitated in the Market Place of Medina. It was said the blood of Jews flooded the Market of Medina (Muslims now claim it was a mass suicide, you know since beheading is a common suicide choice). By 627 AD Mohammed had essentially destroyed or enslaved the entire population of Jews of Khaybar (now Medina).

After his death in 637 AD all the surviving Jews were expelled to Mesopotamia, which then the Muslims again invaded, and it became Iraq, and newly created Islamic Jihadis, expelled the Jews once again. The point is NONE OF THE LAND WAS MUSLIM, IT IS ALL OCCUPIED TERRITORY. FROM THE MANY CULTURES ISLAM DESTROYED IN THE NAME OF MUHAMMAD AND THEIR RELIGION. I say give it all back. Stop the spread of this malignancy. And push this crew back to the only ground they can claim, which was the area around a cave near Mecca that Mohammed crawled out of. By the way how did Mecca, the place Mohammad was first expelled, become Islam's most Holy site? Interesting question. because none of that region is the property of Islam. By my primary concern is the Jews. The rightful heirs to not only Israel but apparently, Jordan, since at least 624 AD and Khaybar, and Judea, and on and on. Jews were never the occupiers, they were the indigenous, the ones whose land was occupied.

And when they say Jews don't exist, they are European Colonizers, remember and remind them of Islam's perpetual apartheid in the Middle East that expelled Jews (and Christians and Copts), explaining the diaspora -- and how many Jews ended up in Europe and AS THEY OCCUPIED THE JEWISH HOMELAND. While we are at it, tell the Islamist-majority body of the UN to buzz off. Their phony partitions created this mess, by letting THEIR ANTISEMITISM GUIDE THEIR DECISION TO GIVE AWAY JEWISH LAND TO ARAB OCCUPIERS.

[your-queer-dad]

Hey, pa!

so good news, my friend's dad actually gave me one of his old canes that he doesn't need anymore, and my best friend is keeping it at his house so i can use it during school without my ma knowing! so thats nice !!

i'm also getting into roman paganism and honestly i feel a little more at peace with myself then i have in a while.

i think things are starting to look up.

Eldritch Anon

Hey kiddo!! That's amazing I'm so happy for you!!!

- dad x

[hyakinthou-naos]

Hello!

I want to apologise, if my ask would come as weird or inappropriate.

I saw you commenting on how always feeling presence and talking to your Gods is relatively recent Tumblr phenomena. So, my question goes, from your years of practice, what would you say appeared pretty recently and people should not worry that much?

Thank you for your answer, if you will.

Dear Anon,

Thank you for your question! I will admit that I am not 100% sure what you are asking - but I assume you are referencing this post where I talk about those who lie about deity communication on social media - and/or this post where I talk about Intuitive Insight

To answer your question and clarify my previous post - I do not think that individuals claiming to be in direct communication* to their Gods is a new phenomena.

I explore this more in the answers to my previous asks - but in this context "direct communication" refers to being able (or claiming to be able) to hear/see The Gods in the same way someone can hear/see another human.

Across cultures and religions, people have claimed for thousands of years to be in direct contact with deities. From the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, to the Prophet of the Mormon Religion. And even in Pagan circles - Wiccan Priests and Priestesses have claimed similar things since Wicca's creation in the 1940s/1950s.

I do think, however, that social media (especially TikTok) has made it easier for those who claim to be in direct communication with deities to be seen and heard by a wider audience. And it has also made it more rewarding - as the individuals who lie are able to receive the attention/fame/monetary incentive that they desire.

It's important to remember that those who are posting on TikTok/social media are not the majority of all religious/spiritual practitioners. They are just the practitioners you see the most due to their ability/desire to post on social media. There are many many many practitioners who have no interest in posting about their practice on social media - and I would venture to say that their beliefs and practices are very different than those we see on social media.

But, to address the latter part of your ask - below are a list of a few spiritual and religious concepts that I would warn new/newer practitioners against believing in:

1. Tulpas / Thoughtforms

I've seen a lot of TikToks and Instagram reels that talk about Tulpas. In these videos Tulpas are described as one of two things. The first is a thoughtform - a thoughtform is a "materialized being (...) typically in human form, that is created through spiritual practice and intense concentration" (wikipedia). The second description I see often, is that Tulpas are a type of trickster spirit or evil entity. Both of these are bastardizations of what the word Tulpa originally meant.

"The concept of Tulpas has origins in the Buddhist nirmāṇakāya, translated in Tibetan as sprul-pa (སྤྲུལ་པ་): the earthly bodies that a buddha manifests in order to teach those who have not attained nirvana." (wikipedia)

So if you see anyone trying to warn you against Tulpas - or attest to the reality of thoughtforms - be very wary as these concepts are relatively new and (in my opinion) completely made up as a scare tactic.

2. Twin Flames

Twin Flame is a term that can often be synonymous with the concept of a "soul mate". The two most common explanations that I have seen regarding Twin Flames are

1: Every person only has half of a soul/is only half of their true self - and there in one other person on the planet who has the other half of your soul/true self. You are meant to find this other person and marry them. 2: Every person has one perfect companion on Earth, and ONLY one perfect companion. Unless you meet and are married to your Twin Flame/Soul Mate you will never be happy or fulfilled.

This concept is not new, it's actually existed in one form or another since the first human religions were created. However - the idea of a Twin Flame / Soul Mate is incredibly toxic and unhealthy. Love, relationships, marriage - all of that is about consent, not destiny. Not to mention that these ideas completely erase/invalidate polyamorous and ethically non-monogamous relationships.

There is also the "Twin Flames Universe" which is an American cult that I would advise anyone and everyone to STAY AWAY FROM.

3. Feminine vs Masculine Energy

A lot of spiritual practices, both new and old, focus very heavily on the idea that gender/sex is a dichotomy. Even some seemingly "progressive" spiritual and religious groups claim that femininity and masculinity aren't tied to gender - but in reality most groups that focus heavily on this dichotomy are not as progressive and inclusive as they appear.

If you see anyone saying things along the lines of "feminine energy is nurturing, receiving energy" and/or "masculine energy is protecting, giving energy" - turn around and go the other way. These are just a repackaging of gender roles with some *woo woo* added in.

I hope that helped to answer your question and provide some additional context to my other asks - if Anon or anyone else has any other questions please don't hesitate to reach out!

Eirene, peace and farewell,

- Aön